All 4 Terms & Definitions
- Cannon-Bard theory
- The theory that an emotion-eliciting stimulus activates the thalamus, which simultaneously signals the cortex (producing the subjective emotional experience) and the hypothalamus/autonomic system (producing the physiological response). Emotion and bodily arousal are thus parallel outputs of a central neural process rather than emotion being derived from bodily sensing (as James-Lange held).
- Sham rage
- Coordinated rage behaviour (growling, hissing, arching, clawing) produced in decorticate cats by Philip Bard, without any emotional provocation. The behaviour disappears when the hypothalamus is lesioned, suggesting the hypothalamus is a key node in the emotional response generator. This finding supported Cannon-Bard by showing the brain can produce the behavioural outputs of emotion centrally, without peripheral feedback.
- Central theory of emotion
- The broader position, of which Cannon-Bard is the classic statement, that the brain — not the body — is the primary generator of emotional experience. This contrasts with peripheral theories (James-Lange) that locate emotion in the sensing of bodily states. Most modern theories are central theories, though they differ in which brain structure plays the key role (amygdala in appraisal and constructed emotion theories; insula in interoceptive accounts).
- Low road / high road
- Joseph LeDoux's distinction between two amygdala activation pathways in fear conditioning. The "low road" runs from the thalamus directly to the amygdala, producing rapid, automatic fear responses before conscious perception occurs. The "high road" runs from the thalamus through the sensory cortex and then to the amygdala, enabling more precise, context-sensitive fear responses. The distinction captures Cannon's parallel-processing insight with anatomical specificity.